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BATON ROUGE – No one is having a better season in college baseball than LSU.

The Tigers have been No. 1 in every single national poll for four straight weeks, and they have been No. 1 in at least one poll for going on two months.

LSU (43-8 overall) also moved into No. 1 in the overall SEC standings by sweeping Missouri three games to none over the weekend, winning the final game with some gusto, 6-5, in 10 innings Sunday on Jake Fraley’s walk-off single in the 10th. The Tigers (19-7 in the SEC) lead Vanderbilt (18-9) by 1.5 games and Texas A&M (17-9) by two games in the SEC.

LSU could win only one game in the regular season final series at South Carolina Thursday through Saturday and still win the overall SEC title with some help. Two wins will win it regardless.

Then it’s the SEC Tournament, which LSU will not need to do anything in to maintain a national top eight seed for the home NCAA Regional and Super Regional. Coach Paul Mainieri should rest his best pitchers or just keep them sharp.

Then it’s the chase to Omaha, Nebraska, and the College World Series.

The Tigers are right on schedule.

They are 13-2 since April 12. They are 4-1 in extra-inning games since April 2. They have a school record three players up for the Golden Spikes Award that goes to the nation’s best college baseball player and has been around since 1978.

Rare is the school that has ever had three up for it, but pitcher Alex Lange, catcher Kade Scivicque and shortstop Alex Bregman are all in the running.

It is not a reach at all to say LSU is within range of a seventh national championship and second under Mainieri.

A closer look reveals something that could hurt that prediction or enhance it even further.

The Tigers, still with single-digit losses deep into May, do not have a closer, a second baseman or a third starter. And they just keep winning.

LSU almost always has a dominant closer from Rick Greene to Matty Ott to Chris Cotton. Jesse Stallings looked like another one early this season. He blew his fourth save in SEC games on Sunday in the ninth.

There are several other blown saves, including three in one game at Alabama, and the Tigers still won that one. LSU knows how to come from behind. They have trailed in eight of their last nine games, and they came back to win six of those eight.

The Tigers had a great second baseman in Jared Foster until this weekend when he was ruled academically ineligible. A tremendous athlete who could play anywhere on the field and on the field across Nicholson Drive in Tiger Stadium as he was also a backup quarterback, Foster and Bregman made up perhaps the best double play combination in the nation.

Foster was also a power hitter with eight home runs and 29 RBIs and a lot of the bravado and cockiness of the players on that classic 1997 team. He played outfield his whole career before moving to second just as the season started. No problem.

Yes, Foster had been slumping of late, but he was the type of guy who would rise to the occasion in postseason and carry a team. He will be missed. But LSU does have options. Danny Zardon showed some more of the fielding issues that lost him his job at third base in the ninth Sunday at second to get the Missouri rally started. Zardon homered Friday in his first night as the new Foster, but he finished 1-for-9 on the weekend with six strikeouts.

Next? Look for freshman Grayson Byrd to get a shot at second, but he is hitting just .192. Sophomore Kramer Robertson can field with anyone, but he has an elbow injury and is hitting just .232. He will not be back until the SEC Tournament maybe.

LSU’s Sunday starter continues to be hit and miss. Freshman Austin Bain did look good Sunday after relieving Kyle Bouman in the first inning. He allowed just two hits in five and one-third innings with seven strikeouts.

What LSU has managed to maintain throughout the season is strong hitting one through nine. That tends to cover holes. The team batting average has hovered around .320 all year. Seven hitters are over .330. Fraley has been around .290, and Zardon entered the Missouri series at .290.

“One through nine, I’m not sure where the easy outs are,” Mainieri said. “You have to pick your poison against us.”

The clutch core of the team is also obvious - Scivicque, Chris Chinea, Hale, Bregman. If not always clutch, some others are very steady – Mark Laird, Andrew Stevenson, Chris Sciambra, Fraley.

Right-hander Alex Lange (9-0, 2.13 ERA) may be the best freshman pitcher in the nation and not a bad replacement for Aaron Nola. Jared Poche (7-1, 2.87 ERA) did not fare well Friday night. Perhaps some late season rest could give him a late push.

It is all there. LSU is the class of college baseball again. But it’s only May, and there are a few openings.